Name: ______________________________ Period: ___________ Date: _______________

1.2 Welcome to the Natural History Museum 

Before you begin, please watch ​Ms. Paredes video directions here

Activity #1: Do NOW K-W-L Chart

Know​: Want to learn: Learned:
3 things I already know/think I 2 questions I have about What I learned about​ fossils​ from
know about ​fossils​ are... fossils​ are... the F​ ossils Video​ ​video are...

1. 1. 1.

2. 2.
2.
3.

3.

Activity #2: Warm Up A Fossil Mystery  

Below is a drawing of a fossil that is millions of years old. This fossil was just taken out of the ground, and no
one knows what kind of organism it is. One way scientists identify a fossil of an animal with bones is to
compare the bones of the fossil to the bones of
other animals.

Do any of this fossil’s bones look like bones

of other animals? Describe your thinking.

 
 
 
 
 

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Name: ______________________________ Period: ___________ Date: _______________
Activity #3: Placing the Mystery Fossil in the Museum  
Watch ​Introduction Video ​ ​to understand your role in this unit.

Describe what happened in this video.

Use the ​Glossary Link​ and enter the definition for the words below:

Paleontologist: species: Body structure:

Activity #4: Finding Similarities Between Species   

Part 1: A Fossil Mystery:​ Your first task as student paleontologists will be to consider a variety
of different species and to think about how they might put them into groups.

1. Follow the directions and complete the work for this section on the​ ​Finding Similarities Between
Species slides

Part 2: Read the Message from Andre Mosley, Natural History Museum Director
 
 

 
 
Part 3: Where in the museum does this new fossil belong? 

The paleontologists came up with 3 possible claims about how to categorize the mystery fossil. Here
are the claims they came up with:

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 Name: ______________________________ Period: ___________ Date: _______________

● Claim 1: ​The Mystery Fossil belongs with the ​whales,​ in the ​Whale (Cetacea)​ exhibit.
● Claim 2: ​ The Mystery Fossil belongs with the​ wolves​, in the ​Carnivore (Carnivora)​ exhibit.
● Claim 3: ​ The Mystery Fossil belongs with the ​crocodiles​, in the ​Reptile (Reptilia)​ exhibit.

In 3-5 sentences, explain which of these claims you agree with? Explain your reasoning.

Activity #5: “The Cat That Wasn’t a Cat at All” 

When it comes to fossils, CATCH Annotate CFS
cases of mistaken identity are not ❏ Highlight one keypoint from
uncommon. Paleontologists might each paragraph.
think that they have found a fossil ❏ Add a comment and ask 1
from one species, when it actually question OR make 1
turns out to be from different connection
species. ​Often, these mistakes ❏ Answer ​Thinking Questions
are corrected as paleontologists
1. According to th​e first paragraph,
make closer and more careful
how are the mistakes in paleontology
observations.
corrected?
One interesting case of mistaken fossil identity happened in 1796, when
workers dug up a pile of strange-looking fossilized bones. A scientist observed the
fossils and noticed long limbs and big claws. Without making careful comparisons
2. According to the second paragraph,
to other fossils, the scientist guessed that the bones belonged to a huge cat, much
what did the scientist notice about the
bigger than a lion. He named it Megalonyx (“giant claw”), and believed it might still
fossils? What animal did he guess the
exist in the western part of North America at the time.
fossils belonged to?

Years later, another scientist studied the fossils and made more careful
observations. After making close comparisons with fossils from other species, this
scientist determined that the animal often walked on its hind legs. Cats do not walk 3. According to the third paragraph,
on their hind legs, so this discovery probably meant that the fossil was not a cat. how did they determine that these
fossils were not fossils of a cat?
The scientist discovered that the fossils actually belonged to a giant sloth.
This species had been extinct for a long time— since the last Ice Age, more than
10,000 years earlier. Even though the mistake became clear with time, the name
of the giant sloth was never changed. The Megalonyx jeffersonii (which isn’t a cat

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 Name: ______________________________ Period: ___________ Date: _______________

at all!) is a reminder that it is important to make careful and precise observations in 4. According to the fourth paragraph,
science. what animal did these fossils actually
belong to?

5.In your opinion, why is it important

to make careful and precise
observations in science?

Activity #6: Exit ticket  

Directions:​Highlight your answer choice below
1. Fossils are the remains of dead organisms from many years 5. Write a 5 sentence summary
ago. about what you learned in this
❏ Agree lesson.
❏ Disagree
2. Fossils of organisms can be categorized using their similarities.
❏ Agree
❏ Disagree
3. A paleontologist is a scientist that studies outer space.
❏ Agree
❏ Disagree
4. In the reading above, the fossil was mistakenly classified as a
cat fossil.
❏ Agree
❏ Disagree
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 Name: ______________________________ Period: ___________ Date: _______________
Activity #7: Achieve 3000 Article  
1. Read the​ ​"One Strange Dinosaur" Article
2. Complete the chart below as you read the article:
Define the following vocab words:
C​opy​ ​3 words​ you don’t Word Definition Synonym (SAME)
know, and define them using
context clues or an online
dictionary. Then fill in the
vocabulary chart.

A​nnotate and ​T​alk to the 1.

text by making 3
comments/connections: 2.
● This reminds me of…
● I have see this in real
life …
● This is confusing 3.
because…
● I am confused
about…
● What I found
interesting was ...

The main idea of the article is…

C​apture the ​main idea​ of
the article by writing a
summary​ of what the
article is mostly about. (​3-5
sentences​)

Now complete the ​Activity Questions​ and ​Thought Question ​on Achieve 3000.